Cold Feet: An Ode to Chapter 28
by Niixx
Summary: I just rewrote chapter 28. I am in LOVE with that chapter, so yes, there are spoilers to those of you who haven't read it. R&R! Warnings: Amuto moments, Tadamu moment Complete!


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Shugo Chara. Peach-Pit, however, does.

**A/N:** This is a dedication to chapter 28 of the manga, because that is my favorite chapter so far.

x.x

Amu could barely stifle her scream. When she had slid into her bed to sleep, she'd realized another body had been there. Ikuto.

"Wh-what the heck?! Why is Ikuto in my bed?!" she cried, knowing she was probably talking way too loud. Her mind flashed back to what her fortune had said. _A sudden romantic incident like a shooting star._ Waving her arms frantically, she tried to form words, still shocked that he was in _her bed_!

"This _is_ your room, right, Amu-chan?" Suu teased, smiling to the other two Charas. All three had girlish, mocking smiles on their faces, watching as Amu leapt off the bed.

"Is that what you're thinking?" Ran asked lecherously.

"A big, sudden romantic incident," Miki added with a sly curve of her lips.

"Shut up!" came a voice from Ikuto's sleeping form, frightening Amu into jumping once more, flinching away from the sound. Yoru slide out from behind Ikuto's head giving a tired nod. Scratching his head with one over-sized paw, he said drowsily, "I can't get any sleep at all, can I?"

"Yoru?" Amu's face suddenly contorted in fury. She grabbed the tiny cat, growling, "Hey, hey you! Explain all this! What's this all about?!"

As she shook him, Yoru cried, "Nya! Calm down!" He tried to force his way out of her hold. "W-well, you see, last night…."

Flashback

In a dark alleyway, one lone street lamp shone, casting it in shaky light. Against one of the buildings creating the alleyway sat a blue-haired young man dressed in a light jacket, jeans, and boots. With him was a violin case and a small cat-looking creature crawling towards him. Except most of the people couldn't see the cat. They saw only a homeless boy lying in the quickly growing snow. But no one stopped to see if he needed help; they had their own problems to deal with, their own lives to lead. Besides, they didn't know the kid.

"Ikuto," the cat meowed, moving towards the boy through the snow. "Ikuto," he said a little louder to get the boy's full attention. "It's no use; they're still creeping around. We can't go home." He looked up to Ikuto, his fur and eyes matching the boy's exactly. _What're we gonna do?_ Yoru thought. _Ikuto isn't gonna be able to stay like this much longer._

Looking up, Ikuto replied, "Father told them, huh." His head swiftly fell back to land on his arms as if he didn't have the power to hold it up any longer.

"Ikuto, are you feeling okay?" Yoru asked worriedly, climbing up to perch on Ikuto's shoulder.

"I don't know. I don't have any strength," Ikuto answered softly, his voice drifting off. His body began relaxing, despite the debilitating cold.

When no other sound came from him, Yoru looked up, feeling a sudden surge of X-eggs' powers, drawing his eyes to the violin resting against the building next to Ikuto. "Ikuto, this violin is weird!" he said, grabbing the boy by his jacket. "Iku—"

"Cold…sleep," the boy muttered, beginning to fall asleep.

"If you go to sleep now, you'll die!" the cat screeched, trying to think of a way to keep Ikuto awake. At his plea for five minutes, Yoru shouted, "No! Not even five minutes!" Frenetic, Yoru tried to think of something he could do. Anything! _This is really, really bad! I have to find Ikuto somewhere close and warm where he can sleep for the night…._

Crawling into the fatigued boy's jacket, he said, "Don't worry; I'll lend you some of my strength, so let's do this 'til the end! Character Transform!"

End Flashback

"…and that's what happened," Yoru finished with his story. "It was my idea to come over here." As Amu's mouth began to tic, Yoru asked, "Understand, little girl?"

"So that's how it was," Amu said, her anger rising to the surface swiftly. Wrapping her fingers around the cat's miniscule body, she shook him violently. "Whatever! You, you, you…." She seemed unable to finish her sentence, instead just squeezing and shaking Yoru all the more.

"Who would be chasing them?" Ran asked thoughtfully, touching her chin.

"This definitely smells of that 'big incident'," Miki murmured aloud.

Amu, dropping Yoru, crawled back onto the bed, shaking Ikuto's shoulder. "Ikuto, you have to wake up! Get out of my bed!" He made no sound, didn't even seem to notice that she was shaking him. "Come on, Ikuto!"

She froze in terror when she heard the telltale sound of her father moving down the hallway towards her room. "Amu-chan…?" He knocked on her door softly. "Are you awake?"

When he pushed her door open slowly, trying to be as quiet as possible, he rubbed his eyes, peering into the dark room. "Something wrong, Amu-chan? I thought I heard loud voices." His voice was sleepy as he looked around the room, his eyes landing on the lump on the bed. Scratching his head, he muttered, "Huh. Guess I was just imagining it."

As her father had walked into the room, Amu had turned off the light, flinging herself beneath the covers, scooting close to Ikuto. Somehow she found herself beneath both his arm and one of his legs. _He's so…close!_ She began internally screaming, a little frightened by the prospect of being so close to the older boy. But the lack of color in his face drew her attention and she realized that even though her face was directly below his, she couldn't feel his breath. _I wonder if he's even breathing…._

Her father left the room, leaving her in complete silence for a few moments besides the thudding of her heart in her chest. Thank God her father hadn't decided to come to kiss her forehead goodnight!

Shaking herself out of it, Amu whispered heatedly, "Oh, come on, Ikuto! I said get up already!"

Yoru tsked her, climbing over Ikuto's side. "You can't wake him up! Chasing a sick person out into cold weather like this is despicable!" He snickered at her trapped expression. "Besides, if you keep talking, your father will just come back in again."

Amu's heart was thumping in her chest too loudly for her to even hear Yoru clearly. _He…he looks so young_, she thought. _His sleeping face looks so defenseless. It seems like he's so much younger than he is._ Shaking her head when she started to smile, she said out loud, "Even if you say that"—a sudden thought struck her—"how am I supposed to sleep like this?!"

x.x

The next morning, Amu sat up in bed, not sleeping a wink. "Ugh, and _this _guy's still here," she muttered to herself. Her annoyance faded, however, when she noticed that only a small amount of color had returned to his cheeks. _He still isn't waking up, either. He must really not feel good._

Yoru was curled into a small, content ball near Ikuto's head, seeming perfectly happy to stay that way for the rest of the day.

"Big Sister!" Ami screamed, bursting into Amu's room so suddenly that she covered Ikuto's face—the only part of him visible from the door—with her pillow, hearing a small yelp of pain when she hit Yoru. "Let's go finish the snowman!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"Wh-what did I tell you about knocking, Ami?!"

"Today I want to make the head!" the young girl said, ignoring her older sister's reprimand.

As Amu left her house a little while later, holding Ami's hand to keep the energetic little girl within eyesight, she looked back at the house. _I hope Ikuto will be okay while I'm gone_.

x.x

"Ikuto!" Yoru said, pressing his paw softly into Ikuto's face, trying to gently wake him up. "Hey, _Ikuuutooo_!" When the boy's blue eyes opened, a smile lit Yoru's face. "Ah, so you've woken up!" Ikuto sat up slowly, looking around the obviously feminine room. "Hey, you okay now? I was really worried about you, you know! What were you—"

"This isn't my room," Ikuto interrupted, staring at the opposite wall.

"Are you still asleep?! You seem a bit groggy…." Yoru floated up to look Ikuto in the eye.

Seeming to be thinking hard, Ikuto murmured, "Amu," when he saw textbooks on the desk across the room. Suddenly jumping to his feet, he said, "That's right! The violin!" He looked around the room for said violin.

Yoru motioned to it. "Here it is, right here."

Moving to the violin case, Ikuto gave Yoru a small smile, ruffling the cat's hair. "You really took care of me, Yoru."

With a happy smile, Yoru accepted the pet, mumbling, "But, Ikuto, that violin…." Ikuto's hand left his head, reaching for the violin. With the stimulation gone, Yoru was able to think once more. "I've never felt this kinda strange feeling in my life…it makes me sick." Sitting on Ikuto's shoulder, he said, "Nya! We should throw it out."

"Don't be stupid," Ikuto said bluntly, lifting the violin case to his face. "Then there'd be no point in stealing it back, right?"

"But…."

"Don't worry so much." He began opening the case. "It's just the same as it was before…."

x.x

Amu held Ami's hand as they walked home later that day, tired. "We finally finished it," she said as her sister twittered with excitement at the thought of their snowman being done. _It's face came out so weird_, she thought, not wanting to hurt Ami's feelings. She was proud of their snowman.

When Ami sneezed, Amu gave her a stern look. "Ami, where's your scarf?" she asked.

"Where did it go?!" Ami cried with false innocence, looking around for it. "This is a real problem, huh?!"

"You left it back there, didn't you?"

Ami let loose another large sneeze, this time turning away from Amu. Unfortunately, that put her right in front of a young boy, her head smacking him in the chest and pushing him to the ground. When he hit the ground, Amu jumped into big sister mode immediately.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" she asked as she helped him to his feet. Ami apologized loudly, mispronouncing her rs in favor of ws. She held the boy's hand as she lifted him, watching as his gaze slid over her shoulder towards her Charas. "Where are your parents?" _Can this boy see Charas?_ Looking over her shoulder she saw that his eyes were actually on a small taiyaki stand as a boy bought some from the kindly old clerk. _Oh, he was just looking over there._ "Do you want some taiyaki?" she asked with a bright smile.

After Amu bought them all some, Ami exclaimed, "Yaaaaay! We got some taiyaki!" munching on the fish shaped treat happily while the little boy just watched her.

"It looks delicious!" Suu chimed in, clapping her hands together.

"We can't go home and eat these," Amu said, taking a few cautious bites of the treat. "Ami, keep this a secret from mom, kay?"

"Kayyy!"

"Fish…?" the little boy questioned, staring down at his own taiyaki. "Baked fish?" His wondering face confused Amu; hadn't every child had taiyaki before?

"Is this your first time eating taiyaki?" Amu asked, watching as he nodded twice. "Well, it's not a baked fish. It's a snack. Bite into the head like this"—Amu demonstrated on her fish—"then eat all the way up to the guts."

"A snack?" the boy said once more. He took a cautious bite of the treat. A small smile adorned his face as he looked up to Amu happily.

With a short laugh, Amu asked, "Do you feel better? Does it taste good?" As he looked up with her with those suddenly too-old eyes, she kept a smile on her face. _What a strange young boy…._

She turned her attention back to the taiyaki stand. _Oh, that's right!_

x.x

"We're home!" Amu shouted as she and Ami entered their home. She raced up the stairs, not evening bothering to look at her mother as she dashed past.

"Welcome back! It's almost time for dinner!" her mother shouted after her, receiving a small, "Okay," in return.

Amu slammed into her room, ready to give Ikuto the taiyaki and send him on his way. Surely he was feeling better by now? She looked around her room and found everything in order. Her bed wasn't a mess, which meant that her mother must have made the bed at some point in the day. Thankfully, Ikuto seemed to have disappeared.

"Ikuto…went home?" she wondered aloud. Then, with a content sigh, she took off her coat and scarf, sitting on the edge of her bed. "I shouldn't have even worried; I wouldn't have come home so quickly." As she put her feet on the ground she felt something squishy—definitely _not_ her floor!—beneath them. A dark look crossed her face as she looked down.

Her foot had landed on his back, pressing into his soft coat. "What?!" she screamed. "Wh-why is he on the floor?!" She grabbed his shoulders, shaking him. "Ikuto? Ikuto! What's wrong?!" When there was no response, she shook him a little harder. "Ikuto! Ikuto, come on…."

His eyes slowly opened and he rose stiffly to sit upright in front of her. "I…I passed out," he said, sounding slightly amazed.

"Th-thank goodness," Amu said with a sigh of relief, pulling her hand away from him. "Y-yeah. What were you doing? Did something happen?"

He sighed. "The violin."

She turned her eyes to the violin case lying close to where he had passed out. "Violin? What's wrong with it?"

"Never mind."

She gave him an incredulous look; if something was wrong with it, she didn't want it in her room.

Ran popped out from behind Amu suddenly. "Amu-chan!" she whispered quickly. When she was ignored, she said it again, louder. "Amu-chan! _That_!"

Amu then remembered the extra taiyaki she'd bought for him. Grabbing the bag, she thrust it toward Ikuto. "Here," she said darkly. "Some taiyaki."

"Taiyaki?"

Glaring up at him, she said, "Chocolate flavored! You haven't eaten since last night, right?" Her voice came out harsh, but she thought she deserved it. He wouldn't tell her what was wrong with him even though _she_ was the one dealing with the consequences. "Eat this and go home!"

As he and Yoru took the treats, he stared at her.

Uncomfortably, Amu asked, "Wh-what? What is it?"

"So you remembered that I said I liked chocolate, huh…."

"I can take it back."

"No, I'm just kidding. I'll eat it."

When Ikuto bit into the tail first, Amu had a sudden thought. _Ikuto's really like a cat, huh. I wonder…a cat eating taiyaki…._ She stared at him for so long that he actually asked, "What?!" But she gave him no answer.

As conversation once again died off, Ikuto said, "You really need to hide the key to your window better. It's not safe." They ignored the sounds of delight coming from the small cat feasting on his own taiyaki, watching each other.

"Oh, yeah? I should call you 'trespassing, perverted cat-ears guy'," she replied while they leaned back against her bed.

Ikuto smirked, moving his face closer to Amu's. "You keep saying 'pervert, pervert!'…do you really know what that means?"

Amu sputtered in response. What a ridiculous question. Of course she did! "O-of course, I do!"

"Really? You know what a _real_ pervert is like?"

Confused lighted Amu's face. "A-a real one?"

"Yeah." He leaned over just a bit more to put his hand over his mouth, whispering into her ear, "Someone who watches a person while they're sleeping, aaallllways looking at their sleeping face and mewling at it." Ikuto paused for dramatic effect. "Someone just like you, Amu."

As he moved back to his first position, Amu's Charas gasped, "Amu-chan!"

"N-no!" she shouted. "I wasn't mewling at it!"

Grinning cattishly, Ikuto said, "Oh, so you _were_ looking at me, hmmm?"

With a scream of frustration, Amu growled, "That's it! Give me back my taiyaki!"

Ikuto rose, putting his hands in his pockets, once again looking too old for his age. "I was just joking. I'll leave. Sorry to be a nuisance." He started for her balcony.

"Huh?" Amu said in confusion. It surprised her when Yoru's worried voice was heard before her own.

"But where will we go, Ikuto?" he asked. "Not home and they're watching our friends."

"Shut up, Yoru."

"Do you not have anywhere to go?" Amu asked quietly, staring at Ikuto's back. She wondered who was after him and why. Besides, he shouldn't be going out in such bad weather if he was barely able to stay awake!

He paused for a moment. "Whatever. I'll be fine. I can sleep anywhere." He began walking again towards her balcony doors, ignoring Yoru's small whimpers.

"But you aren't feeling well, right?"

"That's right!" Yoru agreed, jumping at the chance of maybe staying somewhere warm that night.

Amu watched sadly as Ikuto replied lowly, "Yeah, well, I rested up and I've had some taiyaki. I'm fine." He slid open the balcony doors, the cool rush of air already chilling the toasty warm room. He didn't stop as he got one foot out.

"W-wait!"

Ikuto looked over his shoulder, finding Amu sitting on the edge of her bed with a look of obstinate determination on her face, her lips slightly pursed. "If it was only for a little while…uh…um…." She took a deep breath. "You could stay here. But"—Ikuto's eyes met hers, making her cheeks flame—"B-because Yoru's worried about you, too! So…so for winter break, you can—"

Two light knocks came at the door. "Amu-chan?" her mother's voice came through the wood. "Dinner."

"Yeah!" Turning back to Ikuto as she moved to the door, she whispered, "Nobody in my family can find out about this! And you have to stay in my room!" When she left, she threw one last, "Stay put!" over her shoulder, dashing down the stairs.

As Amu burst into the kitchen, she was met by her frantic father. "Sorry to keep you waiting—"

"Amu-chan!" he cried hysterically. "Wh-who is that _boy_?! Is he your boyfriend?!"

Amu's mouth fell open. _Did he find out?! I can't even keep a secret for a day, can I?!_

"Good evening," came a voice she knew well. She turned and saw Tadase standing with Ami clinging to his leg in her kitchen, her mother smiling at their guest. _Tadase's here? What for?_

"Amu-chan, you have a gueeesstt!" Ami supplied, already having fallen in love with the beautiful young boy.

Amu moved towards him quickly. "Uh, hey. Wh-what's up?" She ignored her father's moan of agony that came from behind her.

"Ami left her scarf on the school grounds this morning." Her mother smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that."

"Oh, that's right! She must have lost it in the Royal Garden!" Amu said nervously.

"I didn't want it to be a problem or anything, so…." Tadase handed her mother the scarf, smiling.

"What a nice boy!"

"Sank you big bwuther!"

Her father broke down at this. "Nooo! Ami-chan, you can't call him 'big bwuther'!" he cried.

"Oh, Papa," her mother smiled, winking. "Isn't Amu around that age? Having a boyfriend or two…." A small blush was on her face as if she were recalling that age for herself.

"N-no way! She's too young!"

_Oh, Papa, I'd die if you knew about Ikuto_, Amu thought.

"Ah," Tadase said, uncomfortable. "Then I'll leave. Excuse me." He started out the door, only to be stopped when Amu's mother began speaking.

"No! Wait!" She smiled, raising one finger. "I'll make some tea and bring it up to you in Amu's room."

The two elementary students looked at her in confusion, both supporting, "Huh?" faces.

"Wh-what?!" Papa cried. "Bu-but, Mama!"

Tadase looked over his shoulder and, after seeing Amu's dismayed face, he said, "Oh…am I bothering you?" His boyish face was apologetic as he went once more for the door.

"N-no!" Amu said quickly. "Not at all!" _I'm so happy, but…that guy is still in my room!_ She raced up the stairs towards her bedroom, Tadase following far behind. She slammed into her room, closing the door firmly so no one would see the boy she had to hide.

Ikuto sat on the floor where she had left him, watching her with confusion. He allowed her to shove him towards her closet with a curious expression on his face. "I thought you told me to stay put?" he asked blandly.

"Stay put over here!"

Tadase, on the other side of the door, kindly inquired, "Hinamori-san?" The sounds of doors slamming and feet shuffling no doubt confused him, but not anymore than when Amu flung open her door, an odd look on her face.

"C-come on in, Tadase!" she shouted nervously. "S-sorry about the mess!"

"O-okay…." He moved hesitantly into the room, taking in his surroundings thoughtfully. After a moment, he turned to her, smiling. "What a cute, stylish room. It reminds me of you." He sat slowly on the end of her bed, the tea her mother had brought up on his lap.

"I-I guess," she said, her nerves still bothering her. Ikuto could come out whenever he wanted and there would be no way for her to stop him.

"Yeah." There was a brief time of silence. "I'm sorry for coming so suddenly," he apologized, still looking around her room.

_You have got to be kidding me!_ Amu's thoughts were fast. _The prince I love is in my room…. It's something I've only dreamed about!_ She paused, throwing a dark, unnoticed look over her shoulder at her closet. _Even so…. I just hope he doesn't realize that I'm freaking out._

Ikuto and Yoru listened through the door of Amu's closet to the exchange. _Hmm, so that's what's going on_, Ikuto thought. He nudged Yoru with a grin.

"Meow."

They could hear Amu jump. "What?!"

"A cat?" Tadase questioned.

"N-no!" Amu stuttered. "Um, uh, Ran! You're really into making animal sounds lately, aren't you?!"

"Um, meow, meow!" the Chara said, sticking up for her master. "Woof, woof!"

_That guy…I'll definitely get him back for that later_, Amu thought, shaking her fist as Tadase's attention was diverted to Ran for the moment.

"What's wrong?" Tadase asked politely. "Is something bothering you?"

Amu brought her hands up, waving them slightly. "Uh, n-no! Sorry! S-so what did you want?!" she asked, a little too loudly.

Tadase's gaze left her own. "Well, I thought this was a good opportunity, so I came to talk." There was a short pause. "About the thing I wanted to talk to you about before our battle with Utau." He looked up at her. "Hinamori-san, do you remember?"

_Back then…._

His eyes went back to the floor by his feet. "That night, I wasn't able to tell you. And Sanjou went ahead and did it first…."

"Kairi did?"

From inside the closet, Ikuto rested his back against the door listening with bored interest to the other boy.

"I didn't know if I could tell you properly in the end," Tadase went on. "But please listen to me." He waited for a moment. "Before I-I liked Amulet Heart," he said in discomfort. "But then something hit me."

Amu had a flashback to when he had asked if he could meet Amulet Heart.

"Back then, only Amulet Heart was shining brightly," he said. "I hadn't seen the girl Hinamori Amu shining brightly at all." His tone was slightly self-loathing. "But both are really the same, even though they're really both one girl." He closed his eyes. "I hadn't noticed such an obvious thing. But as I spent more and more time with you, I began to understand. Amulet Heart was only one part of you. From the beginning, that time when you confessed to me, I'd rejected you and I'd begun to like your other self."

He paused. "I've hurt you twice now. That's why I'm sorry."

Amu immediately jumped to reassure him. "Oh, oh no! That's way in the past! It's okay, really!"

His hair hid his face. "I'm different than I was then. I want to face you no matter what Chara you are, because you're still the same person on the inside."

Swallowing loudly, he said, "Right now, I'm not my strong, Chara-changed self, but I really want to say it! Please listen to me!" He swung his head to look at her. "Is it alright," he asked, "if I start liking you as I am now?"

_What?!_ Amu thought wildly.

In the closet, Ikuto slouched slightly, playing with his fingers.

Amu's Charas screamed, "Amazing! An amazing incident!" while Kiseki looked on in horror at his master's bumbling.

Seeing Amu's shocked face, Tadase said quickly, "I-I'm sorry! I…."

"N-no! Don't be!" Amu said.

"Why are you being so formal?" Kiseki sighed in embarrassment.

"S-saying all this stuff," Tadase continued as if neither had spoken. "And at this hour…so suddenly…. I-I'm bothering you, right?"

"What are you saying?! No, I…I'm just shocked, that's all!" She looked at her hands where they were tightened in to fists in her lap. "I've always been longing for you. Ever since you rejected me…I always…uh, I guess…I'm happy?"

Tadase looked at her. "Really?"

"Ye-yeah," Amu answered, flustered.

Tadase slowly grabbed her fingers, squeezing them gently. "Thank you. I'm so happy," he said with a smile as he put his forehead to hers.

From the closet, Ikuto and Yoru heard, "Thank you. For listening to me."

x.x

After Tadase left, Ran poked her head out of her egg. "Good night!" Seeing her master in a blind trance-like state. "Wha…Amu-chan? You okay?"

"Hey, quiet down!" Miki shouted to her counterpart from her egg tiredly.

"She's still not okay?" Yoru questioned lazily from his own egg.

"Even though she's aaalll alone now," Suu added.

Amu snapped out of her trance. "Saying that kinda thing…that kind of Tadase, to me…." _Is it all right if I_—

"Is it all right if I start liking you as I am now?" Ikuto mocked from beside her on the bed, lounging indolently with his arms behind his head.

Amu nearly fell off the bed in shock. "Ah!" Fury rose in her. "You—wha—you were listening?!"

Ikuto slowly rose with his palms on the bed. "Kind of hard not to. I was stuck in there." He watched her. "Happened all of a sudden, too."

Amu blushed, her hands rising to her face. "Happened…is that supposed to be…oh, whatever!" she finally said, still unable to finish her sentences.

Turning on his side to look at her, he admitted rudely, "I was kind of disappointed."

"Well, that's—" She seemed to finally realize that Ikuto laid on the bed beside her. She quickly pushed him out. "Hey! What are you trying to do, getting in my bed?! You sleep over there!" She pointed to the small bed she had made with one of her extra blankets where he was already getting settled.

"It's cold," he murmured sadly.

"I know! Good night!" She threw her covers over her head, lying beneath them with her heart racing. "Goodness," she said, too quietly for the cat-boy to hear. _Since yesterday, so much has happened…. I feel like I'm spinning around in circles! I still felt it. What was my heart so fluttery about?_ She dozed for what could have been a few minutes or a few hours as the Charas slept in their eggs within the basket she'd bought for them.

She was awoken when the bed shifted, opening her eyes with a small, "Hn?"

Looking over her shoulder, she found Ikuto lying beside her, his long body curled slightly in her small bed. "Whaaa!" she screamed. "I told you to sleep on the floor!"

"But the floor is cold and hard…," he whined softly, keeping his eyes closed.

"Don't complain! Get out!" she said, twisting fully towards him.

"If you keep saying that, you're gonna end up hurting me," he said like a child would. He opened his eyes, catching hers innocently. "I'm sick."

She gave a small groan at that. He wasn't lying, at least.

"You were so gentle with me yesterday, too…." His voice drifted off with that childlike tone once more.

"Yesterday I was just—" Amu let out a small scream as he moved, putting his cold feet against her legs. "Hey! Your feet are cold!" she complained, trying to move away.

"See, I was about to freeze to death!"

Their small tussle ended with Ikuto's arm wrapped around Amu's shoulders, her hands trying to pry him away. _I can't get out_, she thought sourly.

"Ah…you're warm," he said quietly. "I won't do anything weird and I'll get out soon," he promised with a yawn.

"Don't get too attached to me," she replied. "At all, okay?"

Ikuto looked down at her. "For a kid, you're really warm, aren't you? Like a living heat pack."

Amu became indignant at that. "You're treating me like a kid again!" she whined. "You know, in spring I'll be a middle schooler!" she said proudly.

"Oh, really?" Ikuto asked. "Well, there's a big gap between middle school and high school," he pointed out.

"Ikuto, you're in high school?"

"I'm seventeen and a senior."

_Speaking of which_, Amu noticed, _I don't know much about Ikuto._ "Is that violin," she asked, "important to you?" Looking up at him, she could see the surprise her out-of-the-blue question had caused in his blue eyes.

"Ah, not really. It was my father's," he answered slowly.

"Really? So it must be really important, huh?" she asked.

He rolled away from her, surprising Amu as he put his arms once more under his head. "Not really. I don't even remember his face. "My stepdad is even more like a stranger to me. Sad, isn't it?" He paused, his face again expressionless. "To me, being connected by blood is only annoying. I don't even belong with my real father because I've always worked for Easter."

Amu watched him silently. _Ikuto's father is…? That precious violin he carries around…._

"And that key? Is the Dumpty Key a memento, too?"

"Not really."

She waited for him to expand on the answer, annoyed when she found he did not. "You kinda feel like a rebellious kid, you know!" she finally accused.

He turned to look at her, holding his head in his hand. "Huh?"

She smirked. "You're always following around little kids. Like me!"

He said nothing and they lay in complete silence for a few more moments. Then Amu found his arms locked around her torso, his face in her chest. He gave her a small squeeze as she breathed, "Wha-what are you doing?!"

"It's because I'm attached…to kids," he joked. "Spoil me a little."

"You're not cute at all!" Amu snarled, hitting him on the head. "Let go!"

"You don't have to be so hostile," Ikuto noted dryly, ignoring her order.

Amu finally gave up with a small sigh, letting him lay with his head on her. She put a hand in his soft hair, stroking softly. _He really is like a big cat,_ she thought affectionately.

"Tadase said," Ikuto said quietly, "he liked you, huh?"

Amu's face instantly heated, disbelief at his obscenity. "Wha-what?!" she muttered, heart beating wildly. "It doesn't have anything to do with you!" He said nothing, just lay there with his eyes closed as she calmed herself down. A thought bothered her, though she didn't know why it would. "I-Ikuto, you're a senior, right? Is there a girl you like?" she asked, hoping to turn the tables.

"Yeah," he answered sleepily. "You."

Without a sound, she slapped the top of his head sharply.

"Ow!" the boy grumbled.

Hitting him several more times, Amu said snobbishly, "Liars aren't allowed to stay in bed." She gave him a couple more slaps for good measure.

"Ow, ow…hostile again." He paused. "You really don't believe me at all, huh?"

"Of course not!" she exclaimed indignantly. "You're always joking with me!"

"The big, bad wolf, huh?"

He looked up at her, his blue eyes daring her to call him a liar again.

_Huh?_ Amu thought, blinking rapidly. When he said her name quietly, she asked, "Wh-what?"

His head shifted once more to it's original position, his eyes sliding shut like a cat's. "Never mind," he said. After a moment of charged silence, he said, "Grow up faster."

"Wh-what's that supposed to mean?!"

x.x

"I've found it!" came a self-assured voice from in front of the Hinamori house. Utau stood, furious, with her hands on her hips. "The place where Ikuto is hiding!"

x.x

_Hello, again. I've found my new anime: Shugo Chara! I absolutely __**love**__ Amu and Ikuto as a couple, despite the difference in ages. That's just a small problem for them, considering that he works for Easter and trying to get the Embryo while Amu is going after it as well. Anyone else think of InuYasha when they talk about the Embryo granting wishes? Lol.  
Anyways, I had a lot of fun writing this (I mean, besides the little Tadamu moment. Gross) and hope that everyone reading enjoys it as well! I love that last scene with Ikuto and Amu; it's perfect. ;)  
Reviews, please!  
__**Niix**_


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